from the he-clearly-disclosed-abuse dept

It is actually not a hard question to answer. The Whistleblower Protection Act protects "any disclosure" that a covered employee reasonably believes evidences "any violation of any law, rule, or regulation," or "gross mismanagement, a gross waste of funds, and abuse of authority, or a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety."

It goes on to give some evidence of how Snowden's leaks fit into those categories:

In the two months since Snowden's alleged disclosures, no fewer than five lawsuits have been filed challenging the legality of the surveillance programs he exposed. The author of the Patriot Act, Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), called the scope of data collection revealed in one of the leaked Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court orders "incredibly troubling," and "an overbroad interpretation of the Act" that "raise[s] questions about whether our constitutional rights are secure."

It doesn't end there. Over a dozen bills have been introduced in Congress to narrow these now public surveillance authorities and increase transparency regarding continuing programs. No one can know what was in Edward Snowden's mind, but clearly he could have had a reasonable belief the documents he leaked to the news media revealed government illegality and abuse of authority.

The disclosures also revealed that U.S. military officers and intelligence community officials have been less than truthful in their public comments and congressional testimony about the government's domestic surveillance practices, both in the scope of the programs and their effectiveness. Such false and misleading testimony threatens more than just Americans' privacy; it threatens democratic control of government.

Of course, even then, some argued that since the revelations did not, in fact, reveal direct "abuses," he still wasn't a "whistleblower." But that's no longer true. As we've been detailing, his leaks have led to the clear evidence of not just a few random abuses, but rather thousands of abuses by the NSA every year.

So can we drop whatever name calling game people are playing and agree that he meets the definition of a whistleblower?

Re:

He actually managed to blow the whistle, so of course he's not covered.. you are only protected if you reveal things to someone who can safely cover it up or ignore it without having to worry about it actually being revealed.

Re: NO

Of course he's a whistleblower

The NSA got caught with it's pants down amongst the rams on the sheep farm, and they're bluster is to try and cover up their heinous, illegal, treasonous (and with the sheep involved, rather sick) activities.

The entire NSA should be reconstituted with all current members sent off to Gitmo for life (as long as it takes to chamber the next bullet).

Re:

unfortunately, because of the number of infringements he found, the extent to which he has proven what a lying bunch of arse holes are in charge of the USA and the embarrassment to the Administration caused by him finding and releasing this amount of abuse (no one ever expected anything to be found, let alone this amount, so there was no way to actually deny what was/still is going on) to the American people, of US laws and the Constitution, he can never be classed as 'a whistleblower' because it would hurt the pride of those involved. therefore, he must be apprehended at the first opportunity, punished in keeping with the traditional way of dealing with someone that was disliked by the government. that can only happen if he is classed as anything other than what he really is, whilst hiding the real perpetrators behind multiple, very loud, bullshit claims and excuses!

Personally, I call him a "True American Hero" who deserves a medal for exposing the sickening corruption within our government. PLUS - I think O-Blame-O needs to return his undeserved NOBEL award with instructions to give it to to SNOWDEN (who does deserve it).

Snowden is on my list of the 10 most influential people of this century. His actions will hopefully educate & inform "We the People" causing them to rise up to destroy the established unconstitutional TYRANNY and restore our Democratic Society. Hell, I'd vote for Snowden if he ran for President. I trust Snowden. I don't trust the current administration. They need to be sent to Gitmo.......

Re:

He didn't fill any of the government provided whistleblower forms nor solicit a whistleblower license. He also didn't use the double-secret special whistleblower handshake, so clearly he isn't officially a whistleblower.